Brewie

[Nate R]

Also wanted to add they sent me app via my google account but i can't get the brewie to connect. It finds it when I search for it but cantc ever connect???

Yeah- my app doesnt really connect anymore either. I heard we need to delete it and re download it.
I need to fix the machine first.

 

[Nate R]

Well here is my reply. Mate at brewie support pulled my logs from serial # provided. He offered to repait it I sent it in or he would send me parts to repair myself (with instructions) and guaranteeing warranty would remain valid. I opted for the parts. I received documentd next day in email and parts aprox 2-3 weeks later (wed of this week) and I've done the repair.

When looking at the push on connectors to the heater one was completely disintegrated and the other was melted pretty bad. My parts included new wire set (not just heater) and i replaced every part mate sent.

I'm now doing a sanitize clean and boil heater is working again but I'm very worried this is going to happen again. There is that distinct smell you get when electronics overheat coming from the Brewie. I'm hoping I'm wrong and it's just a new heater smell.

If sanitize finishes properly I will try a brew and will report back.

Thx.

Question on the fix. How hard was it to get to the heating elements? Did you have to remove all the pumps, hoses etc. first? Also, do you have instructions you can post?

 

[HarkinBanks]

Bravo on fixing the elements yourself. It’s nice to see diy fixes coming out for this machine.

I’m brewing tomorrow morning but I feel like those connections to the elements are ticking time bombs.


____________________

9:31am

Annnnd, we're down. My boil element made it to about 126 degrees before dying. Thankfully the grain and hops were saved because it never made it to mash in temp. Tried a sanitizing clean and a test brew and no heat in the BK whatsoever. Draining and everything else seems to work fine.

Emailed Mate and submitted a help ticket. Hopefully it is just the melted connectors. I am mildly excited to open this thing up.

 

[HarkinBanks]

Prototype mash basket from arborfab before they weld it up. These guys rock. I should have it this week to check out. Of course my machine is now broken.....

 

[swimIan]

Will you continue to use the stock false bottom or will you have Arborfab incorporate a stronger one into the mash basket?

 

[HarkinBanks]

Will you continue to use the stock false bottom or will you have Arborfab incorporate a stronger one into the mash basket?

I will still use the brewie false bottom. I haven’t had issues with it bowing. I am hopeful the basket will allow the grains to spread out more evenly. I think the bags can result in uneven dispersion sometimes. The weight of the grain in the bag can end up in the center a bit too much.

 

[Nate R]

I will still use the brewie false bottom. I haven’t had issues with it bowing. I am hopeful the basket will allow the grains to spread out more evenly. I think the bags can result in uneven dispersion sometimes. The weight of the grain in the bag can end up in the center a bit too much.

What about a lid? Do the grains float naturally? I have only done BIAB before.

 

[HarkinBanks]

What about a lid? Do the grains float naturally? I have only done BIAB before.

The basket comes about to the top of the mash tun. No need for a top unless the thing is overflowing, and if that is happening I have a much bigger mess.

 

[HarkinBanks]

Heard back from Mate this morning (less than 24 hrs response time). I get to open up the machine and poke around. Here are the instructions they sent me if anyone needs them. And a few points to check from Mate:

"Please find attached the instructions.

In addition, please check the following route after opening the machine:
You'll find a big green/red PCB with a lots of wires, that is the main control unit (MCU)
Heat 1 pin controls with 12V the boil solid state relay (SSR)
If heater is ON, the SSR closes the circuit and lets the power flow through the heater
In your machine from the high voltage PCB the "N" or “L” wire is connected to the SSR
From the SSR another wire goes down to the heater
Before reaching the heater it is connected to the high limit temp switch
From the switch you get finally to the heater itself
Then from the heater to the "L" or “N” pin of high voltage panel

Check if
- a cable got disconnected
- the cable connector was loose and while heating it burned the pin
- there was a short circuit somewhere (black stains)
- the high limit temperature switch burned for some reason

If possible, please answer these questions:
- measure the resistance of the heater (8-9Ohm)
- on the SSR, with high voltage cables disconnected on load side, if you switch it on at the input with 12V, does it close the load side?
- measure the continuity of the cables
- at room temperature, is the temp switch reset?

Let me know what is wrong, and I ship you the parts.

Regards;
Máté"


I have to be honest, I am NOT going to be measuring resistance or load. I didn't design this thing and I'm not going to be playing with high voltage electricity. I would caution anyone else the same.

 

[Nate R]

Heard back from Mate this morning (less than 24 hrs response time). I get to open up the machine and poke around. Here are the instructions they sent me if anyone needs them. And a few points to check from Mate:

"Please find attached the instructions.

In addition, please check the following route after opening the machine:
You'll find a big green/red PCB with a lots of wires, that is the main control unit (MCU)
Heat 1 pin controls with 12V the boil solid state relay (SSR)
If heater is ON, the SSR closes the circuit and lets the power flow through the heater
In your machine from the high voltage PCB the "N" or “L” wire is connected to the SSR
From the SSR another wire goes down to the heater
Before reaching the heater it is connected to the high limit temp switch
From the switch you get finally to the heater itself
Then from the heater to the "L" or “N” pin of high voltage panel

Check if
- a cable got disconnected
- the cable connector was loose and while heating it burned the pin
- there was a short circuit somewhere (black stains)
- the high limit temperature switch burned for some reason

If possible, please answer these questions:
- measure the resistance of the heater (8-9Ohm)
- on the SSR, with high voltage cables disconnected on load side, if you switch it on at the input with 12V, does it close the load side?
- measure the continuity of the cables
- at room temperature, is the temp switch reset?

Let me know what is wrong, and I ship you the parts.

Regards;
Máté"


I have to be honest, I am NOT going to be measuring resistance or load. I didn't design this thing and I'm not going to be playing with high voltage electricity. I would caution anyone else the same.

... wait, you don't want to diagnose this issue? I mean i get it- we do a little work, we get our machines up amd running much faster than shipping it out.
Saves us time, them money.
But yeah at what point is the line?
Fyi- i was given the b+ instructions to remove my part. Turns out there is a different set for the b20!! I am so glad i stopped- otherwise i could have cracked the screen/ computer!! Here's hoping it is still ok.

 

[HarkinBanks]

... wait, you don't want to diagnose this issue? I mean i get it- we do a little work, we get our machines up amd running much faster than shipping it out.
Saves us time, them money.
But yeah at what point is the line?
Fyi- i was given the b+ instructions to remove my part. Turns out there is a different set for the b20!! I am so glad i stopped- otherwise i could have cracked the screen/ computer!! Here's hoping it is still ok.

I guess my caution to the board is know your limits. I know where mine are when it comes to electricity. I’m willing to diagnose this machine but not without detailed instructions. I just wanted to put a reminder up that we are dealing with high voltage devices here. Don’t want anyone plugging the thing in and touching something they shouldn’t.

From Mate's email:

"If possible, please answer these questions:
- measure the resistance of the heater (8-9Ohm)

me- [what heater? I assume the boil element? I have an ohm meter, but where do I measure across, from where to where?]

- on the SSR, with high voltage cables disconnected on load side, if you switch it on at the input with 12V, does it close the load side?

me-[how exactly do I power it? I have a 12v source, but where exactly to I touch the leads? And how will I know if it closes the load side?]

- measure the continuity of the cables

me-[measure the continuity of what cables? There are a tons of cables in there]

- at room temperature, is the temp switch reset?

me-[how exactly do I test the temp switch reset? where is it?]

These were my points, not phrased very well earlier I suppose. Again, I wouldn't want one of us to get hurt trying to diagnose these things......

 

[volx]

Most likely it is the same connector issue that I had as well. It seems there was a systemic issue during manufacturing and this its manifestation, as this is happening to lots of people after a few brews. I heard of one case where the connector tab on the heating element was completely melted away. If that is the case you will need to wait on parts. Otherwise, a trip to Home Depot, $3 and an hour and a half of your time should do it.
I also did not perform above troubleshooting steps since the root cause, at least in my Brewie+, was pretty clear.

 

[HarkinBanks]

Well it is definitely the connections to the boil element. One connection was completely fried off of the element and not getting any power.

I emailed these pics to Mate to see what I should replace. Also asked if this is a concern with the mash tun element.

Is that circle thing a grounding node? Power from both sides goes through it and is scorched badly. You can see it much clearer in the instructions I posted earlier.

 

[volx]

Wow, your connecting tabs are completely gone. Looks like you will need new parts. Sorry man!
No clue what the circle thing is. Please keep us posted on your communication with tech support. Thanks!

 

[beerdug]

Mine looks very much the same. Waiting for a new heater and upgraded wires per Mate.

 

[kh54s10]

What percentage of units do you think this is happening to? I wouldn't expect that to happen to more than a couple units out of thousands. If it is frequent they have serious QC or design problems.

 

[HarkinBanks]

Mine looks very much the same. Waiting for a new heater and upgraded wires per Mate.

Thanks, if this epoxy was used in all of the B+ units, they will have a 100% failure rate. I brewed 3 times with ingredients, 2 test brews with no ingredients, and 2 sanitizing cleans.

I asked Mate if these connections could be soldered. I'm not sure why they would use spade connectors and epoxy when you could just solder it.

 

[gamerc]

That heater element looks like a fire waiting to happen Good thing the epoxy failed and the connection melted before anything more serious went down...

 

[lschiavo]

That heater element looks like a fire waiting to happen Good thing the epoxy failed and the connection melted before anything more serious went down...

Fully automated fire ...

 

[Nate R]

Thanks, if this epoxy was used in all of the B+ units, they will have a 100% failure rate. I brewed 3 times with ingredients, 2 test brews with no ingredients, and 2 sanitizing cleans.

I asked Mate if these connections could be soldered. I'm not sure why they would use spade connectors and epoxy when you could just solder it.

I wss going to ask if this is only B+. I have not heard about or seen this in the original b20. Maybe the extra 15 pounds is worth it?

 

[Ironcyberia]

Hi Guys, I'm new here. First I want to thanks you, reading this thread helped me fixing my brewie. Since your post have been helpfull for me, I want to share my experience with you and probably helping others to fix this issue, that is to me a major design flaw and might occure on every 120V Brewie+. I am an electrionic and electrical designer living in Quebec City, Canada (yep a french Canadian). I use to design and bultd power unit, drives, robotic stuff for industrial, so I know pretty well all those components and I'll be willing to help everyone of you if asked for. here is my story with the Brewie+.

I get my brewie (B+) end of september, brew 5 5gallons batchs, with the impression the boilling was less and less powerfull from batch to batch. Sunday, I setup the machine then start the brewing of a belgina white I already brewed with this machine. the tank fillup then, when the element turn on, POW, the breaker in the electrical pannel not far trip violently... OK, that's not normal, isn't a standard trip of a breaker, something have shorted to the ground badly.

At that point I was wondering if I can or not open the brewie seal at the bottom without voiding the warenty.. it's at this moment that I read your posts and realise that in any case of pump clog we have to open the machine anyway. I fill a ticket on Brewie website but it's been 2 days and no news from them.

here is how it look inside, few of you had and have the same issue but without the BANG. 3 of the 4 therminals are coocked and unlucky as always in my existance, the element tabs was so close to the thermal switch posts that it finaly made direct contact to the ground.

I know exactly what happen and sadly most 120V machine might need an upgrade. the main issue is our 120Vac. the original machine was made in europe, the 220Vac kingdom, so in there roughly half the current pass thru those therminals, genrating less heat by contact resistance. Looking at those therminals, they look not crimped so good (maybe not the right tool used) and they are quite loose on the tabs. Here it's important to understand that every connection offer a tiny resistance, over a certain current limit heat buildup and then problems occur, that's why a contact is rated in his capacity in current (A) pass a certain curent it overheat and is not able to dissipate this energy, and it's a death circle. Also it's not a normal thing to use glue to hold the tabs during shipping, a good match of tabs and terminal should hold without any compond.

So, I cleaned every tabs on the thermal switch and element with a fiberglass contact cleaner. I replaced the 4 terminal with panduit terminals and crimped them with the panduit tool (take care to cut an other 1/4in of the wire to reach the wire unaffected area, it give a better contact. So then I placed a good quality heatshrink over the tabs (will inspect the machine after a brew and see). when pluging back the therminals, it's important to feel a good resistance, cheap tabs are olften too lose and you might need to close them a little with a plyer before connecting em. In my case the SSR burned, the current from the short toast it, luckly I had one in my stuff. i will continue monitor the situation and look regulary at the connection. My point of view on the situation is that Brewie have a major problem in their hands and they know it. Not everybody have time and tools to do this job but sadly, if every 120Vac machine have the same terminals crimped with the same tool... there is a good chance everybody have this issue.

Thanks

 

[HarkinBanks]

Thanks Ironcyberia and welcome to the board! A few questions since I am in a very similar spot:

1) Why not solder the connections into the boil element? (Side note: I could only find heatshrink up to 250F so if I don't solder them I found some silicone tape up to 500F that I would use)

2) What cleaner did you use? Fiberglass contact cleaner? Can you post a link to the product? I want to clean out the burnt epoxy.

I asked Brewie these questions but have yet to hear back.

Lastly, I also had an SSR fail on me. In my case it popped my breaker and failed in the open position. So simply plugging in the machine (without turning on any power) provided current to the boil element!

 

[Ironcyberia]

Thanks, I'm way better in technical stuff than in the beer making, so I'm certain I will get some serious tips on brewing from you guys while giving back on tech stuff. Please see my comment below

Thanks Ironcyberia and welcome to the board! A few questions since I am in a very similar spot:

1) Why not solder the connections into the boil element? (Side note: I could only find heatshrink up to 250F so if I don't solder them I found some silicone tape up to 500F that I would use)

We usualy don't use regular solder on those tabs, a well crimped terminal with a firme grip on the tab is made to handle that load. Panduit rate their tabs at 105 celcius. the yellow tabs is made for AWG 10-12, so for more that 15Amps. solder can help on the 2 terminals on the thermal switch, for those on the elements, solder might melt a some point. I will probably install a thermocouple a the worst terminal (the one direct a the element) ant monitor the temperature. Im pretty sure that those toasted terminals get most of their heat energy from the bad crimp on the wire, if you look at this pictures you see that the crimp is only made at the middle of the area, leaving uncrimped core on each side. I bought a tool at the job from Phoenix contact that crimp this way, but it surely do a better job that this. to get the CSA on the system I build, both therminals and crimping tool should be from the same company, panduit-panduit, thomas&betts-thomas&betts etc. Silicone is a good idea, but I hate to think at an alternate solution when the thing should work as it is, those therminals should handle the load without problem, the crimping beeing my main concern. one thing is 100% sure, and you know it, heat is generated by the terminal, from his connection to the wire or to the tabs.

2) What cleaner did you use? Fiberglass contact cleaner? Can you post a link to the product? I want to clean out the burnt epoxy.

the epoxi was so solide that it break using a small cutter, to clean the crap on the tabs I use this kind of tool, but fiew people got this, it's an incredible tool to clean contact, it's a fiberglass brush, I mainly use it while working on oxydized PCB when doing repair. you can take a utility cutter and scratch around, but this tool is a must.


I asked Brewie these questions but have yet to hear back.

Lastly, I also had an SSR fail on me. In my case it popped my breaker and failed in the open position. So simply plugging in the machine (without turning on any power) provided current to the boil element!

Those SSR olften burn on a closed state when subjected to a current surge. It's easy to test with the conductivity mode on a multimeter. I was lucky to had one at home, this component is easy to find on Digikey, maybe not the exact same part number but they are pretty much the same. I will order this part number on my next Digikey order

 

[Ironcyberia]

sorry for the link to the brush, the forum didnt allow link, see images. for the SSR, Simply type G3NA-220B-DC5-24 in Digikey search.

 

[HarkinBanks]

Ugh again.

Cleaned everything up and got all of the epoxy off. New connectors and crimped down real good. Reconnected everything and boot up was fine. Went to run a sanitizing clean and bam, a pop and spark out of the bottom and my breaker trips. Plug the machine back in and the boil element is firing regardless. Good news I guess is that I fixed the boil element. Bad news is the SSR failed in an open state. I will open it up tomorrow night and investigate.

 

[padair519]

Sad news here. I replaced the element and connection wires as per Mate's instructions and everything seemed fine. (new element and white wire set)

I've now done two brews and one sanitize clean and my brewie is no longer heating on boil side again.

After reading all the recent posts it sounds like brewie has major issues with + machines in 120V.

Anyone successfully get a refund? I'm not opening this machine up every 3 brews to replace wires.

 

[Ironcyberia]

Hey guys.

OK.... I was a little off yesterday... I did some test yesterday night mesuring the temperature of the terminals next to the element and came to a conclusion. how to expect a terminal to be colder that the boiling water tank and the ceramic red hot element when everything is covered up with no ventilation... impossible. the good thing is that I find and tested a solution, not to hard to modify. i will prepare the graph of the temp of the therminal VS time and water temp then send you picture of what I did to once and for all solve this issue, probably around lunch time (3 hours).

 

[HarkinBanks]

Hey guys.

OK.... I was a little off yesterday... I did some test yesterday night mesuring the temperature of the terminals next to the element and came to a conclusion. how to expect a terminal to be colder that the boiling water tank and the ceramic red hot element when everything is covered up with no ventilation... impossible. the good thing is that I find and tested a solution, not to hard to modify. i will prepare the graph of the temp of the therminal VS time and water temp then send you picture of what I did to once and for all solve this issue, probably around lunch time (3 hours).

Any idea what caused your SSR to fail? Was it a grounding issue? I'm now in the same spot and waiting for Brewie to get back to me. The Omron SSR is available online, wondering if I should just order one.

 

[Ironcyberia]

Ok, Here it is. First I installed a Thermocouple on the therminal that is in the warmer position, srtaight on the element, then hooked it to my Fluke multimeter. I get back all the **** together, get a glass of beer (the last one brewed with this machine) then start a false batch heating for the mash 10L of water. On the Left Graph you can see the result of the tabs temperature (Orange) compared to the water temp (blue). The conclusion on this graph is that there is always a constant difference of around 40 deg between the tabs temp and the Water temp, so, if we extrapolate those result, Watertemp at 100 = terminal at 140+Celcius , so over the manufacturer tolérence. this 140 deg should not have caused the failure as we seen from many peoples, so there was connection resistivity added to this. So now is the solution I found.

I decided to add a little ventilation to those tabs, for them to be in an enverment a little colder than the heat of the tank and the element. looking at the plate where all valves and stuff are fasten to, there is a crack made by the bracket of one valve. I used a small utility knife then cut the heat shield and silicone sheet so it make a hole that reach the connection aside the element. I then took a small 40mm 12Vdc fan, add about 2ft of cable and fasten the fan to the plate using a M3 screw (did some thread before). I then connect the fan directly to the 12V power supply, I plan to connect this fan to one of the other fans but I have to confirm the small transistor on the power board can handle 2 fans, so for now I will unplug the Brewie after use, as I did anyway before, in order for this fan to stop (the supply of the Brewie is always on even with the brewie off, so i suggest you unplug it anyway).

So on the Right Graph, you can see that the terminal temp is lower compared to water temp of the other graph, and then around 50deg, the water temp get higher that the therminal temp. When I stopped the test without the fan, water temp was 66deg and therminal was 104.4. With the fan, at the end of the test, water temp was 70.5 and therminal temp was 59. At my point of view this is a solution, I don't know what you think. the hot air (100deg) that will escape from around the insulation will mixt with the cold air blown by the fan at the bottom of the unit, so it should not cause any issue.

A friend of mine (Fred) ordered his brewie fiew weeks ago, before I got the issue. After I told him the problem he wrote to Brewie and asked if he is gona have the same issue, they reply fiew hours ago (but still didnt reply to my support claim from monday??):

Hi Fred,

We are aware of this and this issue is already solved all heating elements received a different cables, so you don't need to worry about this.

Best,
Marcel

Ok, so lets see what Marcel solution is. At my point of view, Good terminal, Good crimping and a little of ventilation solve the issue. Future will tell about Brewie fixe, but for now, without ventilation, it's pretty hot in there.

it say I cant post anymore (5 post in 24h what is that, never seen this on any forum) so Harkinbanks here is my reply about the SSR

My SSR failed cause of the Short to the ground on the Thermal switch post. Those SSR are prety touhgt, but a short like this didnt offer good chance of redemption for them. Make sure with a Multimeter all your circuit didnt short anywere. I rotated the position of the tabs of the element a little on my brewie so the terminals are not going to short if the sleeve around em burn off. with the fan fixe it should be fine

 

[HarkinBanks]

My SSR failed cause of the Short to the ground on the Thermal switch post. Those SSR are prety touhgt, but a short like this didnt offer good chance of redemption for them. Make sure with a Multimeter all your circuit didnt short anywere. I rotated the position of the tabs of the element a little on my brewie so the terminals are not going to short if the sleeve around em burn off. with the fan fixe it should be fine

Thanks, I am picking up a new SSR from Grainger on my way home tonight and will investigate.

I will check my thermal switch. Mine rotates between the mounting posts fairly easily. Is it possible that the leads to the switch can contact the little mounting posts and cause a short? If so I will insulate them with my silicone tape.

Or would it have to have been the power wires crossing with the other power wires to the element?

 

[Ironcyberia]

If you look closely at the original picture with the burned out therminal you can see that the Element tabs are just over the thermal switch. I placed the terminals off by rotating the element something like 10-15 degree. That way it is less likely to have a short in case the insulation around the tabs get damaged when I replaced the element, your silicone tape is a good idea. the new position also locate the therminals of the element just above the hole I made in the insulation to cool the connections. With the fan mod I'm certain the therminals will never reach the self destruction temperature. More the temperature raise at connection point more resistance there is on every contact more they generate heat... its a circle of death. With the small fan the temp of the connection stay at all time well above 100deg celcius, manufacturer spec is maximum 105, after that.. no garentie of a good contact and insulator integrity.

There is no real order in which to connect the element and the switch, usualy we cut the Live (Line) so live should pass thru both switch (thermal switch on the tank and thermal switch on the element) then go to the element itself. In my case I think it is what I did. I dont know realy if brewie did it on purpose but, they use the Neutral to run thru the SSR, the Live run directly from the filter board to the thermal switch... usualy we always cut the Line and not the neutral, since neutral is at earth potenial... It's a detail, nothing crucial, just make me wondering why and if it is on purpose. I also have to investigate on why the glass fuse didn't burn out with the original spark that hapenned, which killed the SSR.

 

[padair519]

Ok, Here it is. First I installed a Thermocouple on the therminal that is in the warmer position, srtaight on the element, then hooked it to my Fluke multimeter. I get back all the poopy together, get a glass of beer (the last one brewed with this machine) then start a false batch heating for the mash 10L of water. On the Left Graph you can see the result of the tabs temperature (Orange) compared to the water temp (blue). The conclusion on this graph is that there is always a constant difference of around 40 deg between the tabs temp and the Water temp, so, if we extrapolate those result, Watertemp at 100 = terminal at 140+Celcius , so over the manufacturer tolérence. this 140 deg should not have caused the failure as we seen from many peoples, so there was connection resistivity added to this. So now is the solution I found.

I decided to add a little ventilation to those tabs, for them to be in an enverment a little colder than the heat of the tank and the element. looking at the plate where all valves and stuff are fasten to, there is a crack made by the bracket of one valve. I used a small utility knife then cut the heat shield and silicone sheet so it make a hole that reach the connection aside the element. I then took a small 40mm 12Vdc fan, add about 2ft of cable and fasten the fan to the plate using a M3 screw (did some thread before). I then connect the fan directly to the 12V power supply, I plan to connect this fan to one of the other fans but I have to confirm the small transistor on the power board can handle 2 fans, so for now I will unplug the Brewie after use, as I did anyway before, in order for this fan to stop (the supply of the Brewie is always on even with the brewie off, so i suggest you unplug it anyway).

So on the Right Graph, you can see that the terminal temp is lower compared to water temp of the other graph, and then around 50deg, the water temp get higher that the therminal temp. When I stopped the test without the fan, water temp was 66deg and therminal was 104.4. With the fan, at the end of the test, water temp was 70.5 and therminal temp was 59. At my point of view this is a solution, I don't know what you think. the hot air (100deg) that will escape from around the insulation will mixt with the cold air blown by the fan at the bottom of the unit, so it should not cause any issue.

A friend of mine (Fred) ordered his brewie fiew weeks ago, before I got the issue. After I told him the problem he wrote to Brewie and asked if he is gona have the same issue, they reply fiew hours ago (but still didnt reply to my support claim from monday??):

Hi Fred,

We are aware of this and this issue is already solved all heating elements received a different cables, so you don't need to worry about this.

Best,
Marcel

Ok, so lets see what Marcel solution is. At my point of view, Good terminal, Good crimping and a little of ventilation solve the issue. Future will tell about Brewie fixe, but for now, without ventilation, it's pretty hot in there.

it say I cant post anymore (5 post in 24h what is that, never seen this on any forum) so Harkinbanks here is my reply about the SSR

My SSR failed cause of the Short to the ground on the Thermal switch post. Those SSR are prety touhgt, but a short like this didnt offer good chance of redemption for them. Make sure with a Multimeter all your circuit didnt short anywere. I rotated the position of the tabs of the element a little on my brewie so the terminals are not going to short if the sleeve around em burn off. with the fan fixe it should be fine

Ironcyberia … kudos to you for solving this with a fan. I'm not electric/electronics expert but as they say a picture is worth 1000 words and that graph showing the temperature of the wiring doesn't lie. I have had some communication from Marcell today regarding my failed unit and he tells me since sending out the replacement wires there have been no failures?!? He said Mate is busy next few days with moving so we likely wont hear from him in a while.

Am I the only one that is having boil tank heating failures AFTER replacing the wires (and heating element) that Mate sent?

 

[Anyhowe]

And the zymatic guys are all up in bat sh$t arms because they are simply not getting their weekly updates in time.

Damn, none of this is good news for a product no matter how expensive or how cheap. Guys and gals I applaud your fortitude. I would have bailed looooong ago.

 

[HarkinBanks]

Back up in business. Thanks so much Iron for the info.

I failed to wrap my spade connections completely and one of them touched the mounting screws of the thermal switch. This caused the short and blew my SSR. I wrapped the connections with my silicone tape and even wrapped the mounting screws of the thermal switch for good measure. I replaced the boil element SSR and going through a sanitizing clean as I type. So far so good.

It’s a shame, this exact same scenario happened to me previously on one of my prior machines. If they had just let me open up the machine I could have fixed it.

Now I have to wonder if this is going to happen to the mash tun element. Has anyone opened up that side of the machine? I suspect they used the same epoxy over there.

Some pics:

Failed to wrap the connections, see scorched spots

Failed SSR

Silicone tape

 

[lschiavo]

Now this is getting interesting. I love DIY.

 

[Ironcyberia]

My bet is that the mash element is not used as much as the boil one, only keeping the temp of the mash, so less energy on that side. But if somehow in a sanitizing sequence or other sequence the element is used as much as the other... i'm afraid this is gona hapen. The epoxy here is not in cause, it's the sleeve around the therminal that burned, and even if there was a 100000deg resistant sleeve, the connection and the wire itself reached his max temperature. you might have noticed the tin on the cable bread when striping it back to install a new tabs, on mine the tin covering the bare copper was gone... so I had to strip till i reach an unaffected part of the wire. this is a sign the therminal reach temperature above tin melting point...

I got a question for you, do you use some dishwasher soap or something like that for the sanitizing clean? i'm wondering this cause many silicone tube into my brewie require some cleaning (I did only short clean before and after every batch I did si far)

Thanks

 

[Ironcyberia]

My bet is that the mash element is not used as much as the boil one, only keeping the temp of the mash, so less energy on that side. But if somehow in a sanitizing sequence or other sequence the element is used as much as the other... i'm afraid this is gona hapen. The epoxy here is not in cause, it's the sleeve around the therminal that burned, and even if there was a 100000deg resistant sleeve, the connection and the wire itself reached his max temperature. you might have noticed the tin on the cable bread when striping it back to install a new tabs, on mine the tin covering the bare copper was gone... so I had to strip till i reach an unaffected part of the wire. this is a sign the therminal reach temperature above tin melting point...

I got a question for you, do you use some dishwasher soap or something like that for the sanitizing clean? i'm wondering this cause many silicone tube into my brewie require some cleaning (I did only short clean before and after every batch I did si far)

Thanks

 

[HarkinBanks]

My bet is that the mash element is not used as much as the boil one, only keeping the temp of the mash, so less energy on that side. But if somehow in a sanitizing sequence or other sequence the element is used as much as the other... i'm afraid this is gona hapen. The epoxy here is not in cause, it's the sleeve around the therminal that burned, and even if there was a 100000deg resistant sleeve, the connection and the wire itself reached his max temperature. you might have noticed the tin on the cable bread when striping it back to install a new tabs, on mine the tin covering the bare copper was gone... so I had to strip till i reach an unaffected part of the wire. this is a sign the therminal reach temperature above tin melting point...

I got a question for you, do you use some dishwasher soap or something like that for the sanitizing clean? i'm wondering this cause many silicone tube into my brewie require some cleaning (I did only short clean before and after every batch I did si far)

Thanks

I noticed the tin on my wires as well, mine turned to almost a copper color. I also trimmed them back until they were pure silver.

I believe it is a combination of the epoxy and the sleeve. Brewie has blamed the epoxy as not being rated for a high enough temperature and has scorched, and likely exacerbated the heat concern with the sleeve. Regardless, this is a bad combination. I am going to open up my mash tun side and investigate. With the lower temperatures, it is probably not as much of a concern, but if I can address it proactively, I will. As you noted, there are likely times when the mash tun element is 100%.

For cleaning after a brew, I run a clean cycle and hand sponge the residue, then a clean cycle with oxy, and then a sanitizing clean, usually a day or two after. On brew day, I run another clean cycle before brewing. This gets a lot of the residue out of the tubes.

 

[HarkinBanks]

Now this is getting interesting. I love DIY.

I agree! I certainly believe the knowledge of the collective brewing community could make this machine better. If they open source the software, we could make that better too!

 

[Ironcyberia]

I noticed the tin on my wires as well, mine turned to almost a copper color. I also trimmed them back until they were pure silver.

I believe it is a combination of the epoxy and the sleeve. Brewie has blamed the epoxy as not being rated for a high enough temperature and has scorched, and likely exacerbated the heat concern with the sleeve. Regardless, this is a bad combination. I am going to open up my mash tun side and investigate. With the lower temperatures, it is probably not as much of a concern, but if I can address it proactively, I will. As you noted, there are likely times when the mash tun element is 100%.

For cleaning after a brew, I run a clean cycle and hand sponge the residue, then a clean cycle with oxy, and then a sanitizing clean, usually a day or two after. On brew day, I run another clean cycle before brewing. This gets a lot of the residue out of the tubes.

I'm curious to see some picture of the terminals under the mash tank, please take some shots for us while openig that side of the machine.